Minchah Belulah [commentary on the Pentateuch]

RAPA, ABRAHAM MENACHEM BEN JACOB HAKOHEN OF PORTO.

Francesco dalle Donne

Verona

1594

FIRST EDITION. Title in typographical border. The initial word of each of the Five Books of Moses surrounded by a richly detailed historiated vignette. On f. 207v. escutcheon of Rapa, consisting of a raven (“rappe” is the Middle High German word for raven), two hands extended in Priestly benediction (symbol of the Kohen), and two mermaids. Scattered marginalia.

Vinograd, Verona 3;

Whilst a young man, the author was apprenticed as a proof-reader at the House of Bragadin in Venice. There he witnessed the violent burning of the Talmud pursuant to the Papal Bull of 1553. On f. 203r of the present work, Rapaport records the tragic event and notes his decision to commemorate its anniversary as a personal fast-day for the rest of his life. See A. Yaari, Sereiphath HaTalmud Be’Italia in: Mechkarei Sepher (1958) pp. 198-233; M.J. Heller, The Sixteenth-Century Hebrew Book, Vol. II (2004) pp. 828-9.